HOULTON (AP) — A man on trial for the murder of three people told investigators that one of them was a drug dealer responsible for causing pain in his life and that the other two were “perfectly innocent,” according to a videotaped interview with police that was shown Thursday to jurors.

The videotape captured Thayne Ormsby telling investigators that he’d never met victim Jeffrey Ryan but knew of him through mutual friends. Ormsby said he hoped to rid the world of a “bad person” by killing him.

Also killed on June 22, 2010, at Ryan’s home in the northern Maine community of Amity were Ryan’s 10-year-old son, Jesse, and a family friend, 30-year-old Jason Dehahn.

Ormsby, who’s charged with three counts of murder and arson for setting fire to Ryan’s pickup, is using an insanity defense.

The 22-year-old told police during the interview that he didn’t plan on killing Dehahn or the boy. “I didn’t want to kill them, but I didn’t want to get caught for murder,” he said.

The testimony came after the defense made a motion for a mistrial, saying the jury was “tainted.”

On Tuesday, a relative of one victim told a juror to “hang” Orsmby, but the juror was allowed to remain. On Wednesday, an alternate juror was booted after trying to shake the prosecutor’s hand and telling him that he was doing a “good job.”

Ormsby’s attorney, Sarah LaClaire, said those cases underscore her contention that Ormsby can’t get a fair trial in Aroostook County.

The judge questioned all jurors Thursday before denying the motion for a mistrial and allowing the videotape to be shown to the jury.

On the videotape, Ormsby described in graphic detail how he fatally stabbed 55-year-old Jeffrey Ryan before going inside the home to stab Dehahn and following the boy into a bedroom to kill him. Afterward, Ormsby said he chased down the injured Dehahn and killed him outside near a ditch.

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